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April 1, 2012

Hiking at Bradbury Mountain - South Ridge Trail

What better way to spend a warm early spring-like day than to take your grandson hiking at Bradbury Mountain!

The original plan was for 3 of us to grab a bite to eat and then take a walk, but Gage said to Meme "I'd really like to take a Grampy Hike... just me and him"

Meme was OK with that so I took Gage to Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownell Maine. In case you don't know, 4 year olds have a short attention span. Hiking is what we call it, but playing is what it's all about. Playing outdoors!
Bradbury Mountain is one of Maine's original 5 State Parks. It's located on 800+ acres in southern Maine. Picknicking, camping, hiking, biking, and horseback riding are popular. In the winter there are trails for snowshoeing, skiing, and snowmobiling. Most of these trails are Multi-Use, but there are dedicated hiking, biking, and ski trails also.

Our first stop at Bradbury was, of course, the playground! Surrounded by large white pines it's a wonderful place to relax and enjoy the day. Or in case your a 4 year old, to burn off some energy!

After a while Gage let me know it was time to hike! We shouldered our day packs and headed off through the pines over to the South Ridge Trail.

This is a hiking-only trail that doesn't get a lot of use. In places it's steep so wooden steps have been installed to make it easier.

We took advantage of the steps as convenient rest stops. At each set of steps we would stop and eat something.

The trail was easy enough to follow. Gage took us from one red paint blaze to the next. We made a game of it. Sort of like hide and seek. Can you see the red blaze? Gage found it!

The South Ridge Trail has some nice views along the way...

but the best views are from the summit where there was a "Hawk" watch going on!

I can't wait for the next time that Gage and I go on another "Grampy Hike"!!